Just For Fun brings out the best

The Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation strayed from the norm as Sybilla Leon Guerrero, Joshua Berger, Butch Sublemente, Monica Yamaguchi, and Chris Fryling of Team Zen each did their part to earn the fiercesome fivesome a victory in Friday night’s Just For Fun Triathlon.

While each one of them has trained for at least one of the three disciplines of triathlon in the past, all of them reached down to pull out something extra to give their team the best chance at winning the event.

Long after the sunset and the final runners completed the course, Team Zen organizer Joshua Berger said that his team benefited from everyone’s “strong work”—especially that of the Fryling and Yamaguchi.

“We’re very ecstatic. We’re really happy. We had such a powerful running team with Fryling and Yamaguchi and that’s why we won. Monica is the No. 1 women’s runner and Chris was not surprisingly phenomenal in the off-road running because he’s a hasher so he’s comfortable doing it,” said Berger.

Yamaguchi said that she enjoyed the experience but said that she was urged to do her best after Fryling ripped off the fastest run on the trail.

“It was good. I got big pressure from Chris. He was so fast coming in,” she said.

The positive experiences weren’t limited to the winners of the race as Russ Quinn expressed his feelings after crossing the finish line atop Suicide Cliff hand in hand with Vicki Taitano and Gabe Boyer.

“It was good. Fantastic. It was beautiful,” said a winded Quinn.

Each of the eight five-member teams completed the five leg circuit within 40 minutes of one another, and the final trio made their way from Cowtown to the top of the tip against the wind and cloaked in darkness around 7:30pm.

The spirit of competition was alive and well, and the unique format brought more out of some of Saipan’s returning triathletes.

Gayle Berger was one of the inspired. While participating as the road bike rider for Team Woody, the veteran racer put a little extra power in her pedal because of her lead in the second stage of the race.

“Thanks to Rachel [Bandelin]’s awesome swim, I was the first biker out. Louie Tenorio passed me early on, but I was able to hold the second position for the rest of the race. I rode as fast as I could, because it was so highly unusual for me to be so far ahead in the pack. I was set on not letting anyone pass me. I didn’t look back to see who was behind, or by how far. But, at Bird Island, I turned around, and who should I see on my way back but my husband, close behind me on his bike,” she said.

Berger was not about to let family ties loosen her grip on second place, as she continued to fight to hold her place in the race.

“I biked even harder. I’m not even four months out of knee surgery, and I was really happy with my time—46:13—about 30 minutes faster than the weekend before, when I had trained on the course, and I beat Josh in the turkey,” she said.